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This blog is written in correlation with my PhD project 'The Technical Recipe: A Formal Analysis of 19th Century Food Writing.'
As a lover of food and literature, particularly when combined, I will discuss recipes and writing from the nineteenth century. Join me as I muddle through the best - and worst - of Victorian food writing.

CAKE FRIDAY! Victoria Sponge.

Today I'm going to be posting an easy recipe for one of Britain's most classic and most loved of cakes, the Victoria sponge of course.
The recipe comes from another Queen of Cakes, Mary Berry. It's from her AGA cookbook, but can easily be made in a conventional oven and always yields a great (and tasty) result. It's definitely a bake to try if you're new to baking and with cheap ingredients it's a great one for a student to knock up for friends, when feeling particularly elegant, ooh fancy!

My favourite thing about this recipe is how quick and easy it is. For instance, on Tuesday, my last full day of being at home, we had some friends over for tea and being a domestic goddess (ha) I managed to whip this up in about half an hour so that it was just being assembled as they arrived. So simple. It's also one of those delightful recipes in which everything is thrown in a bowl at the start and mixed, and you're done. My favourite kind.

Ingredients -

2 seven inch cake tins, lightly greased and base lined.

4 (free range) eggs

225g of caster sugar

225g of self raising flour

2 tsp of baking powder

225g of butter or margarine, softened

Jam of your choice, to put in the middle and add whipped cream if you fancy!

Method -

Preheat the oven to 180C or Gas 4.

Place the eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and butter in a bowl, and mix until evenly combined. The best way to do this is probably with an electric hand mixer, but when I'm making a cake I come across as all old-fashioned and like to use a wooden spoon, how quaint.

Pour the cake mixture evenly into your two greased and lined cake tins, and smooth the top with a knife.

Put the tins in the middle of the oven and bake for 25 mins, checking after 20 mins but not opening the oven beforehand incase they fall. They should be golden brown when done and the edges should be coming away from the cake tin.

Remove your cakes from the tins, running a blunt knife around the edges first then tipping them onto a wire rack or your hand, gently. Leave them to cool on a wire rack. When they are cool, place the bottom cake on a plate or cake stand and spread the top with your jam. Place the other cake on top, dust with a touch of caster sugar and you are done. Lovely.

Unfortunately I had to leave this one at home before I came down the road, meaning it's probably long gone by now. Currently in the beautiful Edinburgh, after Wednesday night spent clubbing and yesterday spent shopping I am ready to return to Glasgow and it's culinary delights, can't wait.

Also had dinner at my absolute favourite Mexican restaurant last night, which I will be posting about tomorrow for any Edinburgh diners. Tonight we are headed to SWG3, a club below the University down by the river in Glasgow, for a night of techno and fun and a free after party. I've been to SWG3 before and it's a unique, minimalist venue, second only to SubClub and maybe the Arches from my experience of the amazing Glasgow night life. Can't wait. Not sure what to do on the outfit front yet. My favourite mono-tone dungarees might be making an appearance once more.

Anyhow, back to analysing The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon for my first exam.. which is less than a week away, gulp.

I am a first year, SGSAH funded PhD candidate at the University of Glasgow and the University of Aberdeen. Investigating nineteenth-century recipes as a form of literary technology, I am interested in all things related to the Victorians, what they ate, how they cooked and the recipes and literature they read.